Great to hear, NIkki. Every now and then my son comes home and says the ball felt weird in his hand that day. Usually we can just go outside and he'll throw a few at me really hard and it resets him.
New year, new hope. 57jr. is really getting into throwing technique from the mound, but we'll see how it translates to other types of throws. If he was an INF it would be more of an issue, but all he has to worry about is throwing to bases from the mound, and short throws to the cutoff from the OF. He loves the longer throws because he can air it out.
Was watching Vanderbilt game the other day. Man on 1st, bloop to the RF. Baserunner hesitates till he sees it isn't caught. RF guns the ball to second, and would've had him by 10', but overthrew him by so much that the 3B caught it on the fly. Made sure to tell my son about it, so he knows that even elite players have their struggles.
I'm now too old to catch him unless he is at least 80' away. Eyes can't keep up with what his ball is doing.
Just an update. Starting catcher in 4 varsity games thus far (Senior catcher have started the other 2; DH in those games). Had 5 kids over those 4 games try to steal second--we have 5 outs. Throws to 1st and pitcher also look good. Two stole third--Spiked both of these throws. Huge progress which I attribute to a combination of answered prayer and hard work!
That’s great to hear, Nikki. It’s fun to watch them throw kids out!
Vey Cool Nikki-have fun watching- Great performance at catcher !!!!!
Holy cow, the yips are painful to watch. My son has been yips free for quite some time. He guest played a couple Friday's ago for his HS coach's summer team. All of a sudden he had an entirely new throwing motion to the pitcher to to 2b. It was extremely awkward and I am really concerned it is going to hurt his arm. As a result of the throwing motion he is spiking throws to second off the mound and about 25% of his throws to the pitcher are spiked halfway or short hops. The funny thing is the other team tried to steal when they finally had a runner on first. Out of nowhere his mechanics lined up and he threw the hardest I've seen to 2b. The tournament PocketRadar read 84mph on the throw. He was out.
Fast forward to this past weekend. It was awful to watch. I was hoping the coach would take him out and finally did after 5 innings. I heard one of the coaches on the other team comment that he was the best blocker and receiver he'd seen all weekend, but the throws were so unnatural looking. Thankfully, no runners advanced on any of his throws. I have to think it disrupted the pitcher rhythm though. On a positive, he hit the crap out of the ball and the coach is going to keep him in as an EH and P (coaches are really confused at how he can still pitch) until things get better.
We threw as soon as we got home yesterday and he didn't have an awkward or bad throw. Must have been a couple hundred throws at varying distances from 45' - 120'. Also 2 buckets back to the mound with every throw on the money.
I totally feel the --"It is hard to watch comment"... Certainly have been there. I love that your son keeps throwing hard regardless. That is what it takes as he already knows. I am especially glad that he hit so well. When my son was experiencing the yips--there were no intermittent good throws that I recollect. We have not experienced any throwing issues this season quite the contrary, but we are experiencing a bit of a hitting slump. However, hitting slumps are well understood by the masses; yips are rarely understood by those who have not directly had the pleasure of experiencing them. Not to say that we understand them--but we do know that contrary to Google results--their baseball career is not over, throwing can be restored and therapy is not needed.
Another chapter in the Tyler Matzek story. First time I've heard about Jason Kuhn's role in Tyler's recovery from yips.
Behind a paywall/subscription. Who is Jason Kuhl?
I read another story last week about Matzek and forgot to post it here. There was a line in it where his brother almost stopped playing catch with him after being hit in the legs so many times. Reminded me of getting drilled in the shins and feet by my son over the past couple years.
@TerribleBPthrower posted:Behind a paywall/subscription. Who is Jason Kuhl?
I read another story last week about Matzek and forgot to post it here. There was a line in it where his brother almost stopped playing catch with him after being hit in the legs so many times. Reminded me of getting drilled in the shins and feet by my son over the past couple years.
Sorry, spelled his name wrong above (fixed that). @jasonkuhn255 on twitter.
Good explanation of how Matzek worked through his yips.